Washington Democrat U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell and Arizona Democrat U.S. Senator Ruben Gallego led 54 of their Congressional colleagues in sending a letter to U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins and U.S. Forest Service Chief Tom Schultz urging them to extend the public comment period for a proposal to repeal the Roadless Rule.
The Roadless Rule, enacted in 2001, protects 58.5 million acres of untouched U.S. Forest Service land from wasteful new road construction. Last month, the U.S. Department of Agriculture published a notice in the Federal Register indicating that the Trump Administration intends to start an environmental review process to rescind the rule. The notice started the clock on a three-week public comment period, currently set to expire this Friday, Sept. 19th.
In the letter the lawmakers wrote the Roadless Rule is a landmark public-lands rule that has ensured the responsible management of nearly 60 million acres of National Forest System land and the irreplaceable resources they provide since its inception.
The letter urges Rollins and Schultz to “provide a minimum of 45 days for the public to comment and participate in public hearings, and 120 days for Tribal consultation.”
